Trenton Mayor Tony Mack arrested but his lawyer says he won't resign

New Jersey’s capital city, already struggling with massive police layoffs, rising gang violence and municipal mismanagement, woke Monday to find its mayor arrested after a federal sting where he and others allegedly bragged to FBI informants about acting like “Boss Tweed” and using code names for each other like “Napoleon” or “Honey Fitz.”

Mayor Tony Mack, his brother Ralphiel and a political supporter once convicted in the sexual abuse of a teen stand accused of taking $54,000 in cash payments — and agreeing to accept $65,000 more — after allegedly discussing taking bribes on tape with FBI informants who posed as developers looking to buy a vacant city lot near the State House.

“I like to do it like the Boss Tweed way,” Mack supporter Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni allegedly told one of the informants. “You know Boss Tweed ran Tammany Hall.”

“One thing about the Mack administration — when I say that, it’s me and Mack — we’re not greedy,” Giorgianni allegedly said, according to a 31-page criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Trenton. “We’re corruptible. We want anybody to make a buck.”

Mack’s arrest is the latest in a series of personal and political legal woes for the mayor, whose administration has been beset by troubles since his election. His chief of staff was arrested for trying to buy heroin. So many city business managers have come and gone that the state now has say over who gets hired.

Mack owes more than $50,000 in federal taxes, was late on paying taxes this summer on a boarded-up property he owns and has two properties in foreclosure. Last month — on the heels of an FBI raid of his home and city hall offices — PSE&G shut off power to his house.

In a state that saw more than 40 people arrested — many local politicians — in a federal sting in 2009 and Newark’s former mayor sentenced to a 27-month prison term in 2008, the arrests Monday may serve only to cement New Jersey’s reputation as one the most politically corrupt states in the country.

The federal investigation in Trenton bears striking similarities to the 2009 sting, dubbed Operation Bid Rig. Mack and Giorgianni were allegedly approached by two people purporting to be a developer and a consultant seeking to build a parking garage on city-owned property — and prepared to grease the wheels if they could get a get deal.

Yet the two were actually working for the FBI, which began its investigation of the mayor in September 2010, shortly after Mack took office.

Mack, 46, will resist calls to resign and is “going to continue with his duties” by being back at work this morning, his attorney, Mark Davis, said.

Mack and his brother were released on $150,000 unsecured bond by Magistrate Judge Douglas Arpert and were forbidden from leaving the state.

Federal authorities relied on recordings of conversations between Mack allies and a supposed developer, as well as another informant posing as the developer’s consultant.

They allegedly approached Giorgianni and offered bribes in exchange for the city-owned lot, located less than a half-mile away from the State House on State Street and assessed at $271,000.

Giorgianni, however, according to the criminal complaint, allegedly agreed to sell the property for $100,000, in exchange for a $100,000 kickback to be split between him, Mack and an unnamed city employee.

Neither the supposed developer or consultant were named in the federal complaint.

Though Giorgianni has no official position within city government, his influence over Mack dates to 2006, when he first lent Mack money, according to the court complaint.

Ralphiel Mack’s attorney, John Hartmann, said there is “a strong case” for the defense, adding that “there are no damning tapes, recordings of him saying anything.” Investigators say the raid on Giorgianni’s home uncovered $2,500 worth of $100 bills that bore the same serial numbers as those involved in a corrupt payoff. The raid on Mack’s home uncovered more than $9,000 worth of bills whose serial numbers allegedly match those used in another payment.

At one meeting, which took place at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City, Giorgianni was seen by federal agents allegedly passing plans for the proposed parking garage to Mack — as well as envelopes stuffed with cash.

Giorgianni, who was also charged Monday in an unrelated drug distribution scheme, was released on $250,000 bond and is being held in home confinement. His court-appointed attorney didn’t return a call for comment.

After allegedly violating terms of the state’s aid package to Trenton, the Department of Community Affairs required the mayor to cede power to hire top officials as a condition of receiving further state funds.

In a statement, state Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, who represents the city, called on Mack to “take a leave of absence until he gets his day in court.”

This article contains material from The Associated Press. Email: campisi@northjersey.com